An Exercise in Market Orientation Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

An Exercise in Market Orientation - Essay Example Thru the evolution of time, the rudiments became to be more complex as taxes, trade caravans and other forms of business negotiations began to take shape. It does not necessarily follow that our business concepts today are different from past practices. Indeed, some of the elements of modern business and marketing practices that we know of today were actually practiced as early as the time of the Ancient Greeks, the Phoenicians and the Venetian traders. The marketing concept now commonly dubbed as the market orientation finds its first proponent in Adam Smith when he forwarded the notion that the customer should be the focus of the business in the 1700's. However, it was only in the 1960s when the marketing concept was reintroduced. Nevertheless, from a short span of time, it has become the philosophical foundation for marketing academics and practitioners alike. As we have said earlier, the term 'market orientation' was originally known as 'marketing concept'. There were many who advocated customer satisfaction as the primary objective of business (Drucker 1954, Keith 1960, Levitt 1960). However, the doctrine has been more of an article of faith than a practical basis for managing a business (Day 1994). Thru the works of Kohli and Jaworski (1990), the term 'marketing concept' was differentiated from 'market orientation' with the former being a business philosophy whereas the later refers to the actual implementation of the marketing concept. 1.3 Other Business Orientations There are other business orientations aside from marketing orientation. These are Sales orientation and Production orientation. Market orientation, however, was tagged as superior among the group. In this paper, we proceed to define what Market Orientation is (i.e. its structures, focus, processes) and compare it to the other business orientations. 2. Comparing Business Orientations 2.1 Definition and Focus A marketing oriented firm is one where strategic decisions are driven by the wants and needs of the customers. We can only speculate that it is the driving logic behind the formulation of the saying that "the customer is always right". All aspects of the firm are designed to systematically respond and create customer value. Later on in this paper, we will be discussing a market oriented company. (Narver and Slater, 1990) The concept of marketing orientation was reintroduced and developed in the late 1960s by scholars of the Harvard University with the participation of a number of companies. (Tutor2u.Net, 2006) A marketing oriented firm has the following characteristics: Extensive use of marketing research Broad product lines Emphasis on a product's benefits to customers rather than on product attributes Use of product innovation techniques The offering of ancillary services like credit availability, delivery, installation, and warranty A production oriented firm is concerned primarily with production, manufacturing, and efficiency issues and was eminent during the 1950's period. The basic notion behind this concept is best expressed by French economist Jean-Baptiste Says who forwarded the notion that 'supply creates its own demand'. Simply put, the concept revolves around the notion that if a product is made, somebody will